Verizon's reasoning to launch shared family data plans stems from its desire to get more users transitioned to its newer, less-congested 4G LTE network, which only 5-percent of its customers have switched to since its initial nationwide launch in December 2010.

“It is very critical for us, and we’re playing a very delicate balancing act here that I don’t want to spend any more money on my 3G network,” said Verizon CFO Fran Shammo at an investor conference Monday. In other words, the company seeks to reduce congestion on its CDMA 3G network by bundling together multiple family members on a single data plan, while at the same time handing out promotions to current 4G LTE customers by offering them 2x their current data allowances at half price.

In response to a question about the timeframe for shared data plans on Verizon, Shammo answered "you'll see something launched midyear this year from us."

In perspective, Verizon's top executives insist that the company doesn’t want to spend any more money on its 3G network, however, and it will instead focus solely on 4G LTE. Shared family data plans are one way to alleviate 3G spending costs.

For the past few months, AT&T and Verizon's corporate executives have been pondering the idea of "shared family data plans," or in other words, single data plans that can be allocated and distributed among multiple members of the same paying group.

According to a recent leaked screenshot discovered by an anonymous tipster at Engadget, it appears that AT&T has already begun preparations by making changes in Telegence, its corporate billing system for customer accounts. According to the changes that must be debriefed with AT&T employees, "the Data node [of Telegence] will be used to support future Shared Data product offerings."

Nevertheless, the language of the update suggests that new plans are coming in the very near future, but lacks any detail regarding a launch date or structure of said plans. We suspect that the company may be beginning its first wave of internal testing, if anything. Perhaps a better question to pose would be when Verizon will introduce (or leak) its competing shared data plans.